By William Van Zyl

Published on October 1, 2026

Something was missing. But what was it? He read it, but He left a part out. Why? 

I reveal a stunning anomaly in this article. 

Let’s look into it.

” I am going to get you; your day is coming. And you will pay!”

Sounds familiar?

Don’t miss the full sermon at the end (YouTube link).

There is something strangely satisfying about vengeance.

Someone hurts us, and somewhere deep inside, a little courtroom opens in our imagination. We become the judge, the jury, the prosecutor—and, if we are completely honest, we have already written the sentence.

“Just wait,” we think.

“Your day is coming.”

“Someone will pay.”

And then we read the Bible and discover something rather inconvenient.

God does not need our help getting even.

In fact, Scripture repeatedly calls us away from vengeance and toward forgiveness.

But an intriguing moment in the ministry of Jesus deserves a closer look.

Jesus walked into the synagogue at Nazareth. They handed Him the scroll of Isaiah. He opened it and read from what we know as Isaiah 61:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

He continued with words about good news to the poor, freedom for captives, recovery of sight, and liberty for the oppressed.

Then Jesus stopped.

He closed the scroll.

He gave it back to the attendant.

And He sat down.

Then came the astonishing declaration:

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”

But something was missing.

Jesus had stopped reading before the part concerning “the day of vengeance of our God.”

Why?

That question opens a fascinating door.

Two Powerful Words: Vengeance and Recompense

Before we explore why Jesus stopped where He did, we need to understand two words that can easily become confused:

Vengeance.

Recompense.

They are related, but they are not identical.

Vengeance

Vengeance is punishment or retribution carried out in response to wrongdoing.

It is the desire to see justice imposed upon the person who has caused harm.

The word can carry the idea of retaliation—payback for an offence.

And there is an important biblical distinction here.

Scripture does not teach that evil does not matter.

It does not say that injustice should simply be ignored.

Rather, Scripture repeatedly teaches that vengeance belongs to God.

Paul writes:

“Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

That changes everything.

If vengeance belongs to God, then it does not belong in my hands.

I don’t have to become the collector of every unpaid debt.

I don’t have to make sure everyone gets what I think they deserve.

I don’t have to spend my life rehearsing somebody else’s wrongdoing.

I can release the matter to God.

And that brings us to the second word.

Recompense

Recompense means repayment, compensation, or a return corresponding to something that has been done.

It can refer to receiving what is due—whether that is a reward for good or a consequence for wrongdoing.

Recompense is therefore closely connected to justice.

Someone has done something.

Something is owed.

Something needs to be addressed.

But here is where things become interesting.

Who is responsible for the recompense?

That is the question.

We often want to be both the injured party and the repayment department.

We want God to forgive us while we keep a detailed spreadsheet of everyone else’s offences.

We want mercy when we fail.

Justice when somebody else fails.

Grace for ourselves.

Recompense for everyone else.

And Jesus exposes that contradiction.

Jesus Stopped Reading

Isaiah 61 contains the words:

“To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God.”

When Jesus read the passage in the synagogue, He read the proclamation of the Lord’s favour—but He did not continue into the phrase about the day of vengeance.

Instead, He stopped.

Then He sat down.

And essentially said:

Today, this Scripture is being fulfilled.

That omission is striking.

Jesus was not denying that God’s judgment exists.

The Bible certainly teaches God’s justice and judgment.

But at that moment, Jesus’ mission was announced in terms of good news, freedom, healing, restoration, and release.

The Messiah had arrived.

The acceptable year of the Lord had begun.

And Jesus’ ministry would reveal the heart of God in an extraordinary way.

The cross would demonstrate that God does not simply demand payment from humanity.

God provides the payment.

The Strange Mathematics of Forgiveness

Dr Bill Winston has used the parable of the unforgiving servant to illustrate this principle.

Jesus tells the story in Matthew 18.

A servant owes his master an enormous debt.

To put it in perspective:

“Ten thousand talents” was essentially the largest, most mind-boggling amount of money anyone at the time could imagine. One talent was worth about 6,000 silver coins (denarii), and a single coin represented a full day’s wages for a typical worker.
The total debt equalled roughly 200,000 years’ worth of labour—an impossible amount for anyone to ever pay back, especially considering entire regions paid only 600 talents per year in taxes combined.
The story takes place in a royal court, meaning these “servants” were high-ranking officials (like governors) dealing with massive state-level finances, rather than household labourers.

The amount is so large that repayment is effectively impossible.

The master has every right to demand payment.

But something astonishing happens.

The servant pleads for mercy.

And the master forgives the debt.

Completely.

The man walks away owing nothing.

Imagine that moment.

The burden is gone.

The debt has disappeared.

He has been released.

But then he encounters another servant who owes him a comparatively small amount.

And suddenly the man who has just received mercy becomes merciless.

He demands payment.

The other servant pleads with him.

But he refuses.

Instead, he has the man thrown into prison.

The story does not end there.

The master hears what happened.

And the servant who had been forgiven discovers that his own behaviour has exposed something deeply wrong in his heart.

He received mercy.

But he refused to extend mercy.

Jesus concludes the parable with a powerful warning concerning forgiveness.

IMAGE: The debtor in jail. Jesus paid our debt on the cross. He paid the debt of sin we could not pay.

Forgiven People Forgive

This is where Dr Winston’s point becomes uncomfortable.

We have to forgive.

Not because what happened to us was acceptable.

Not because the offence was insignificant.

Not because justice doesn’t matter.

And certainly not because forgiveness means pretending that evil never happened.

We forgive because we have been forgiven.

The size of our own debt changes how we view somebody else’s debt.

And perhaps this is one reason Jesus placed such enormous emphasis on forgiveness.

We can become experts at measuring others’ sins while remaining strangely forgetful of the mercy we ourselves have received.

We say:

“They don’t deserve forgiveness.”

And perhaps heaven responds:

“Neither did you.”

That is the uncomfortable mathematics of grace.

Vengeance Rolled Out

There is another danger.

Vengeance can become addictive.

One offence leads to another.

Someone hurts us.

We respond.

They respond.

We respond again.

Before long, everybody is keeping score.

Vengeance, vengeance, and more vengeance rolled out.

Generation after generation can inherit the argument.

Families can carry grudges for decades.

Friendships can disappear.

Churches can divide.

Communities can fracture.

Nations can wage war.

And somewhere underneath it all is the ancient human desire:

“Someone must pay.”

The Christian gospel answers:

Someone did.

At the cross, Jesus stepped into the place where humanity’s debt could be dealt with.

That does not mean earthly justice is unnecessary.

It means that personal vengeance is not our calling.

Paul’s words in Romans 12 are remarkably direct:

“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves…”

Why?

Because God sees what we cannot see.

God knows what we do not know.

God sees motives, circumstances, consequences and the hidden parts of every story.

We see one chapter.

God sees the entire book.

Recompense Is Not Revenge

This distinction is crucial.

Recompense is not the same thing as revenge.

Revenge says:

“I will make you suffer because you made me suffer.”

Faith says:

“I will place this matter in God’s hands.”

Revenge demands personal repayment.

Trust releases the demand.

Revenge keeps checking the score.

Forgiveness puts the score down.

Revenge says:

“You owe me.”

Grace says:

“I release you.”

That does not necessarily remove every earthly consequence.

A person may still have to face the consequences of their actions.

A criminal may still be prosecuted.

A dishonest person may still have to make restitution.

A broken relationship may still require boundaries.

Forgiveness does not mean abandoning wisdom.

But there is a profound difference between seeking justice and feeding vengeance.

What Did Jesus Know About Vengeance?

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Jesus stopping where He did is that He knew the rest of the passage.

He knew Isaiah.

He knew the Scriptures.

He knew the prophetic promises.

He knew God’s justice.

Yet when announcing His ministry in Nazareth, He emphasised:

good news

freedom

healing

release

restoration

The Messiah had come.

And Jesus demonstrated what His kingdom looked like.

He touched lepers.

He welcomed outsiders.

He ate with sinners.

He forgave sins.

He restored broken people.

He challenged religious hypocrisy.

And eventually, He allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross.

There, the One who had every right to demand justice became the One who prayed:

“Father, forgive them.”

Think about that.

The One who could have called upon heaven did not call for vengeance against His executioners.

He asked for forgiveness.

The Cross Changes the Question

Perhaps we often ask the wrong question.

We ask:

“What do they deserve?”

Jesus teaches us to ask another question:

“What have I received?”

I have received mercy.

I have received forgiveness.

I have received grace.

I have received a debt I could never repay.

And if that is true, then how can I continue demanding full payment from everyone who owes me?

This does not make wrongdoing insignificant.

It makes grace enormous.

Leaving Vengeance in God’s Hands

There is something wonderfully freeing about giving vengeance back to God.

We do not have to spend our nights planning imaginary courtroom speeches.

We do not have to monitor whether someone has finally received their punishment.

We do not have to celebrate when somebody who hurt us experiences difficulty.

We can simply say:

“Lord, You know what happened. You know the truth. You know what is just. I place this in Your hands.”

That is not weakness.

It is trust.

It acknowledges that God’s justice is greater than our retaliation.

And perhaps that is part of what Jesus was demonstrating when He stopped reading Isaiah where He did.

The Messiah had come proclaiming the Lord’s favour.

The kingdom was breaking into human history.

Captives could be released.

The broken could be restored.

The poor could hear good news.

And sinners could discover forgiveness.

The Debt We Could Never Pay

The servant in Jesus’ parable had been forgiven an enormous debt.

Then he walked outside and demanded payment from somebody who owed him a much smaller amount.

That is the picture Jesus places before us.

We stand outside the master’s house, holding somebody else’s debt in our hands.

And perhaps Jesus is saying:

Look at your own hands.

They are empty.

Your debt has been forgiven.

Your account has been cleared.

You have received mercy.

Now what will you do with the debt you are holding?

Will you demand vengeance?

Will you demand recompense?

Or will you release it?

Vengeance Belongs to God

There is a time for justice.

There are consequences for actions.

There are situations where authorities must intervene.

There are times when restitution is appropriate.

But personal vengeance belongs to God.

That distinction can save us from carrying burdens we were never designed to carry.

Vengeance belongs to God.

Justice belongs to God.

Recompense ultimately belongs to God.

Our responsibility is different.

We are called to forgive.

We are called to love.

We are called to pray for those who hurt us.

We are called to overcome evil with good.

And perhaps most importantly, we are called to remember the size of the debt from which we ourselves have been released.

Jesus stopped reading.

He closed the scroll.

He sat down.

And then He announced that the Scripture was being fulfilled.

Perhaps the silence after those words is worth considering.

The Messiah had arrived.

The year of the Lord’s favour had come.

And before we rush toward vengeance, vengeance, and more vengeance, perhaps we should pause and remember something much greater:

We were forgiven a debt we could never repay.

So we forgive.

Not because the offence did not matter.

But because grace matters more.

---

Copyright © 2026 by William Van Zyl

Vengeance, Vengeance, and More Vengeance Rolled Out

All rights reserved. This eBook/article or any portion

thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner

without the publisher’s permission, except for using brief quotations in a book review.

Published by Five House Publishing (New Zealand)

First published, October 1, 2026

More eBooks and articles are available at https://fivehousepublishing.com/

More about the author at http://williamvanzyl.com/